calamity of trade or commerce unmanned him, or threw him upon a bed of nervous sickness. Mercantile pursuits were his hobby of life, and he was constantly looking to the bright side of adventures and speculations. With an unlimited credit, and possessing the confidence of merchants and bankers at home and abroad, he passed through the panics and pressures in the money market for more than half a century, and came out of all the vicissitudes of the times unscathed, possessing fortune and fame.

Of the most enterprising and successful merchants of Philadelphia, Henry Pratt may well be classed with Girard, Ridgway, Clapier, Ralston, Beck, and others. He pursued, for a long life, the even tenor of his way; generally confining himself strictly to the business of a merchant.

He died 6th February, A.D. 1838, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.

For most of the materials of the foregoing sketch we are indebted to his brother, Mr. Thomas Pratt.

JONAS PRESTON, M.D.

DR. JONAS PRESTON was the son of Dr. Jonas Preston, who emigrated to this country from Wales, in England, previous to the American Revolution, and settled in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, where the subject of our memoir was born. Dr. Preston, his son, settled and practised medicine in Philadelphia for many years, and amassed a fortune of about four hundred thousand dollars. At his death, which took place in 1836, he was seventytwo years of age. He was a member of the Society of Friends, and a man of great benevolence; and his endowment of the " Preston Retreat," for which, by his will, he appropriated the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, is a certain evidence of his charitable disposition to the human family. Dr. Preston was a kind neighbor, a virtuous and honorable citizen of the old school.

It is to be regretted that the loss which accrued to the estate of Dr. Preston after his death, by banks and the Schuylkill Naviga

tion Company, prevented the completion of some of his designs in his legacy to the "Preston Retreat," Lying-in Hospital, but withal, we still hope his noble charity may be, at no distant period, put into operation with deserving success.

COLONEL THOMAS PROCTOR.

THOMAS PROCTOR was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to this country before the Revolution, and joined the ranks of the American army. He worked his way by his deeds of valor while engaged in the battle of Brandywine. His promotion was deserved, and in after life he became a respected and honored citizen of Philadelphia. He was by trade a carpenter, and belonged to the "Carpenters' Society." He belonged to the fraternity of Free Masons. As Colonel of Artillery in the action at Brandywine, Colonel Proctor displayed great courage, and as it was the first battle in which the Marquis de Lafayette was engaged in, he was honored by having fought in the same conflict with him and General Washington.

He died March 16th, 1807, aged sixty-seven years, and his remains were interred in St. Paul's Churchyard in this city.

ROBERT PROUD.

ROBERT PROUD, a historian, was born in Yorkshire, England, May 10th, 1728, and in January, 1759, arrived at Philadelphia, where he lived half a century. For many years he was a teacher in a school of the Quakers. In the Revolution he was a decided royalist. About the year 1791, he devoted himself to writing his history, the publication of which was attended with pecuniary loss. He died July 7th, 1813, aged eighty-five years. He was tall; his